A MID-CENTURY-MODERN DESK Model CM 172 by PIERRE PAULIN, THONET, France 1950
About the Item
- Creator:Pierre Paulin (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 30.71 in (78 cm)Width: 41.34 in (105 cm)Depth: 27.56 in (70 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:PARIS, FR
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU6650237063202
Pierre Paulin
Pierre Paulin introduced a fresh breeze into French furniture design in the 1960s and ’70s, fostering a sleek new Space-Age aesthetic. Along with Olivier Mourgue, Paulin developed chairs, sofas, dining tables and other furnishings with flowing lines and almost surreal naturalistic forms. And his work became such a byword for chic, forward-looking design and emerging technologies that two French presidents commissioned him to create environments in the Élysée Palace in Paris.
Paulin was born in Paris to a family of artists and designers. He initially sought to become a ceramist and sculptor and was studying in the town of Vallauris near the Côte d'Azur — a center for pottery making, where Pablo Picasso spent his postwar summers crafting ceramics — but broke his hand in a fight. He enrolled at the École Camondo, the Paris interior design school. There, Paulin was strongly influenced by the work of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Arne Jacobsen, as was reflected in his early creations for the manufacturer Thonet-France.
It was at the Dutch firm Artifort, which he joined in 1958, where Paulin blossomed. In a few years, he produced several of his signature designs based on abstract organic shapes. These include the Butterfly chair (1963), which features a tubular steel frame and slung leather, and a group of striking seating pieces made with steel frames covered in polyurethane foam and tight jersey fabric: the Mushroom (1960), Ribbon (1966) and Tongue (1967) chairs. The revered designer not only introduced new construction techniques to Artifort furniture but contributed fresh materials, Pop art colors and dazzling shapes to the mid-century modern era as a whole.
In 1971, the Mobilier National — a department of France’s Ministry of Culture in charge of furnishing top-tier government offices and embassies — commissioned Paulin to redesign President Georges Pompidou’s private apartment in the Élysée Palace. In three years, Paulin transformed the staid rooms into futuristic environments with curved, fabric-clad walls and furnishings such as bookcases made from an arrangement of smoked-glass U shapes, flower-like pedestal chairs and pumpkin-esque loungers.
Ten years later, the Mobilier National called on Paulin again, this time to furnish the private office of President François Mitterand. Paulin responded with an angular, postmodern take on neoclassical furniture, pieces that looked surprisingly at home in the paneled, Savonnerie-carpeted Louis XVI rooms. As those two Élysée Palace projects show, Paulin furniture works well both in a total decor or when used as a counterpoint to traditional pieces. His creations have a unique personality: bright and playful yet sophisticated and suave.
Find vintage Pierre Paulin lounge chairs, armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: PARIS, France
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- A MID-CENTURY-MODERN MODERNIST Ceiling Fixture by PIERRE PAULIN, France 1950By Pierre PaulinLocated in PARIS, FRA rare, iconic and authentic circular ceiling light with space inspiration, Modernist, Space-Age, Forme-Libre, ovoid body and frame in off-white lacquered metal screwed by 3 lacquere...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- 2 MID-CENTURY-MODERN MODERNIST CHAIRS by PIERRE PAULIN, STEINER, France 1950By Pierre PaulinLocated in PARIS, FRA pair of chairs with armrests, Modernist, Free Form, chromed tubular metal structures, comfortable seats and armrests in superb red imitation leather, attributed to Pierre Paulin, S...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- A MID-CENTURY-MODERN MODERNIST DESK & CHAIR by LUCIEN CARRIER, France 1950Located in PARIS, FRA very beautiful set composed of a chair and a small desk or console, with black lacquered metallic structures, trays and sitting in bambou and woven wicker, particularly well design...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsMetal
- A Sculptural MID-CENTURY-MODERN RUSTIC STOOL, PIERRE CHAPO Style, France 1950Located in PARIS, FRA beautiful and sculptural massive elm Stool, thick and sensual lines, Modernist, Forme Libre, Brutalist, Folk Art, in the spirit of Pierre Chapo & Charlotte Perriand, to be attribut...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsElm
- A MID-CENTURY-MODERN MODERNIST Elm Bench, PIERRE CHAPO Style, France 1950By Pierre ChapoLocated in PARIS, FRAn architectural and rigorous bench that can be used as a coffee or side table, Modernist, Constructivist, Brutalist, Popular Art, solid geometric construction of thick strips of sol...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsElm
- A MID-CENTURY-MODERN TABLE or DESK LAMP by GEORGES FRYDMAN, ed. EFA, France 1950By Georges FrydmanLocated in PARIS, FRAn orientable table lamp, Modernist, Bauhaus, Constructivist, Forme-Libre, with a circular weighted base in dark caramel wood, with an orientable arm in tubular chrome-plated metal a...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Desk CM141 by Pierre Paulin, Thonet Edition, 1954By Pierre Paulin, ThonetLocated in Paris, FROak desk model CM141 by Pierre Paulin for Thonet, 1954.Category
Vintage 1950s French Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMetal
- CM 178 Desk in oak and metal by Pierre Paulin, Thonet, 1957By Pierre PaulinLocated in PARIS, FRCM 178 Desk in oak and metal by Pierre Paulin, Thonet, 1957 Born in 1927, Pierre Paulin enrolled at the end of the war at the Camondo school where his artistic and technical qualities were quickly noticed by his teacher Maxime Old who encouraged him to enter the studio of Marcel Gascoin, one of the creators of the UAM. At the end of this first experience, he joined the decoration department of Galeries Lafayette where, thanks to the director of the Masters Geneviève...Category
Vintage 1950s French Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Pierre Paulin & Thonet Desk with Drawer, Metal Teak & Formica, France Circa 1955By Thonet, Pierre PaulinLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRDesk with a single drawer designed by Pierre Paulin and manufacture by Thonet. France circa 1955 Black lacquered metal feet, teak veneer drawer on the right side and a teak venee...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Rare Pierre Paulin "Model 250" Executive Desk with Cabinets for Dassas, FranceBy Pierre PaulinLocated in Los Angeles, CAVery rare "Model 250" executive desk with detached rolling filing cabinets designed by Pierre Paulin for Dassas, France, 1975. Drawers and cabinets all lock with the same key. Beauti...Category
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Teak and Steel Executive Desk by Pierre Paulin, France, C. 1975By Pierre PaulinLocated in New York City, NYTeak and steel executive desk by Pierre Paulin, France, c. 1975. Sleek executive desk (model no. 250) in Burmese teak and polished stainless steel by esteemed French designer Pie...Category
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Smart Desk in Oak, Steel, and Laminate by Pierre Paulin, circa 1950By Pierre PaulinLocated in New York City, NYOak, Steel, and Laminate Desk by Pierre Paulin, France Smart desk with clean lines and beautiful patina.Category
20th Century French Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsOak
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
At Château La Coste, Pierre Paulin’s Visionary Home Concept Finally Comes to Life
Now synonymous with 1960s and ’70s French chic, the designer conceived his modular modernist furnishings to change the way we decorate.
Exploring Our Current Obsession with Sixties Style
A new exhibition in Philadelphia stars a complex decade that continues to inspire.